Actor and producer Bob Balaban has appeared in over 50 movie and television spots, directed for television and produced three full legnth films. His latest project is Gosford Park, a Robert Altman whodunnit set in an English manor. The film is up for several Golden Globe awards. Balaban produced and appears in it.
Singer Songwriter Dion. Hes just released a new record of doo-wop tunes Deja Nu (Collectables 2000). In the late 1950s, Dion and his band the Belmonts topped the chart with several pop hits, earning him the status of Teen idol. Dion split amicably with the band in 1960 and continued to write Top 10 hits until the British Invasion changed the pop preference. Now, in his 50s, he continues to produce, write and sing new material. He lives in Boca Raton, Florida.
Philip Furia is currently writing a book on Hollywood's musicals. He discusses the impact of Harry Warren on movie musicals. Furia is the author of The Poets of Tin Pan Alley, and Irving Berlin: A Life in Song. He is chair of the English department at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Today, as part of our series on American popular song, we continue our profile of Harry Warren (1893-1981), a successful but little known songwriter who produced a number of hits during the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Today in part two of our profile, we focus on Warren's songs of the 40's and 50's, including some of the most popular love ballads of the world war two years, one of Dean Martin's biggest hits, and the theme for a tv western.
Harry Warren's music publishing company, Four Jays Music, is now headed by his grand-daughter, Julia Riva. She talks about her grandfather and his music.
As part of our series on American Popular Song, we continue our profile of HARRY WARREN (1893-1981), a successful but little known songwriter who produced a number of hits during the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Today in part two of our profile, we focus on Warren’s songs of the 40’s and 50’s, including some of the most popular love ballads of the world war two years, one of Dean Martin’s biggest hits, and the theme for a tv western. Warren dreamed of writing for Broadway, but instead migrated west and became one of Hollywood's most prolific songwriters.
We continue our rebroadcast of our series on American Popular Song with a tribute to composer Hoagy Carmichael. Carmichael wrote "Star Dust," "Heart and Soul," "The Nearness of You," "Skylark" and many more. We feature performances by singer Rebecca Kilgore and pianist Dave Frishberg. We'll also talk with Richard Sudhalter, who has written a forthcoming biography of Carmichael. And we talk with Carmichael's son, Hoagy Bix Carmichael who now manages his father's music catalogue.
We continue our rebroadcast of our series on American Popular Song with a tribute to ragtime composer and performer Eubie Blake. He was born on Feb. 7, 1883, in Baltimore, Md. He wrote the songs for the Broadway hit Shuffle Along. African American ragtime musicians of the day sought out Eubie to write their songs. Two of Eubie Blake's best known songs are "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Love Will Find A Way." Just over 100 years after his life began, on Feb. 12, 1983, Eubie Blake died in Brooklyn, New York.
We continue our American Popular song series, with a program about composer Will Marion Cook. He was born in 1869 and was part of the first generation born after slavery. Cook was one of the innovators of ragtime song, and helped introduce ragtime to Broadway. Cook wrote In Dahomey the first full-length broadway musical written and performed by African Americans. It opened on Broadway in 1903. Some of Cook's songs reflect the racial stereotypes and dialect of the time.
This Christmas week we rebroadcast our series on American popular song. This one profiles composer Jerome Kern. He wrote the songs All the Things You are, Can't Help Lovin' That Man, I'm Old-Fashioned, Ol' Man River, and The Way You Look Tonight. A number of those songs are from the broadway musical Showboat which he wrote. We'll focus on the music he wrote before then, before 1927.
This Christmas week we rebroadcast our series on American popular song, and begin with the late lyricist Dorothy Fields. Born in 1905, she was the only woman in the pre-rock era to sustain major critical and popular acclaim as a songwriter. First, singer Becky Kilgore and pianist Dave Frishberg perform music by Dorothy Fields. Biographer Deborah Grace Winer talks about Fields life and music. Winer is author of On the Sunny Side of the Street: The Life and Lyrics of Dorothy Fields. Philip Furia talks specifically about the lyrics Dorothy Fields wrote.
Film critic John Powers talks with Terry Gross about the holiday movies coming out, and about his favorite films from the last year. Listen to the second half of the interview.
John Powers resumes his conversation with Terry about the years best movies. There are eight on his list: Apocalypse Now Redux, Mulholland Drive, Ghost World, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Gleaners And I, Lord Of The Rings, Gosford Park and Memento.
Dr. Lynn Amowitz is a researcher for Physicians for Human Rights. Amowitz specializes in internal medicine, women health and epidemiology. Last month she was in Afghanistan interviewing displaced women as B-52s were bombing just six miles away. Previous to that visit, Amowitz researched and compiled the report on the condition of women under the Taliban in the report "Women Health and Human Rights in Afghanistan." Amowitz specializes in working in war torn communities. Over the years she worked in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zaire, and Nigeria.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews Pierre Boulez conducting Wagners Ring Cycle on DVD (Universal) and works by Stravinsky, Debussy, and Berg on two DVDs (Image).
World music critic Milo Miles reviews the 3 CD set, The Velvet Underground Bootleg Series, Vol. 1: The Quine Tapes. Its music recorded in 1969 by Robert Quine who later became part of the New York punk rock scene in the 1970s.
Pulitzer-prize winning journalist David Vise is a staff writer for The Washington Post. He the author of the new book, The Bureau and the Mole: The Unmasking of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Dangerous Double Agent in FBI History (Atlantic Monthly Press). Vise tells the story of how a seemingly all-American boy became a traitor. Vise had access to files about Hanssen, and the opportunity to talk with Hanssen family and friends.
